


A Quiet Unfolding

by Tani



Category: Mars (Taiwanese Drama)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-27
Updated: 2009-12-27
Packaged: 2017-10-05 08:37:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/39794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tani/pseuds/Tani
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Han Qi Luo had never been an impulsive person.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Quiet Unfolding

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place somewhere around episode 4, and takes off with the idea that Qi Luo tried seriously dating Da Ye. Written in an attempt to vent my Da Ye love. :D Comments and constructive criticism welcome.

Han Qi Luo had never been an impulsive person. She might like Chen Ling, but she knew that he didn't like her back, and Da Ye was a nice guy. She didn't want to hurt him. So, she did what she always did. She didn't say anything. She bit her tongue, and did her best to look the other way when Chen Ling started to dazzle her too much with his brightness.

Da Ye didn't say anything either, although sometimes there was a look in his eyes that said that he saw far more than he let on. She was grateful to him for that, for not making a scene. And slowly but surely, she began to see him more. She saw his kindness, his smiles. She felt the gentle brush of his hands against her body, cautious so as not to alarm her, and so soft. She heard the words he said, the way that they were always calculated to avoid any pain to her. Somewhere inside her, his care was like sunshine, spreading warmth and light.

When he kissed her, it didn't cause the wildfire of feeling that Chen Ling's kiss had. Instead, it brought a warm glow and a quiet unfolding. She kissed him back and didn't regret it, even though part of her still longed for Chen Ling.

She was happy, which she hadn't expected to be when she'd first agreed to go out with Da Ye. If something was missing, she still wasn't willing to give up what she had in order to get it. Da Ye was important to her. She didn't want to think of herself without him.

Outside her happiness, she watched Chen Ling continue his dance of destruction. She saw how he drove faster, how he spread his affections wider, how he took risks now more than ever before. She wondered often if she could help him. Sometimes, given confidence by Da Ye's warm faith, she reached out a tentative hand. Chen Ling pushed her away.

Still, she couldn't stop trying.

***

Ling watched them occasionally, when he felt like punishing himself. He saw the way that Qi Luo's smile became more frequent, the way that as time went on she allowed Da Ye to touch her more and more often. He saw the way that she stopped flinching away and instead began to lean in. He even caught them kissing once, and had to turn away quickly. He told himself that he was disgusted at their boringly chaste kiss, and that was why he was so angry.

He drove too fast on his way home that night, disdaining the safety of a helmet, almost wishing that the police would pick him up. They didn't, so he called Qing Mei. He fucked her hard, but not even the force of his orgasm could shake the image of Qi Luo and Da Ye's kiss from his head.

He tried to avoid them after that, but instead found himself drawn like a moth to the flame. He watched from the shadows, burning at every casual brush of fingers, every exchanged smile.

It wasn't only Qi Luo that he watched. Da Ye was also a subject of fascination. He'd never seen his friend like this, and that was another source of anger. He wasn't afraid to admit that Da Ye was one of the most important things in his life. How dare Qi Luo bring out this side of his best friend that he had never seen before?

Anger smoldered within him. Mostly, he tried to ignore it, but it would kindle at the smallest of sparks. The touch of Qi Luo's fingers against Da Ye's when she wanted to hold hands might start it, but it was intensified by the tender look on Da Ye's face when he leaned forward to brush a strand of loose hair from her face. He never put the name of jealousy to it, even though that was what it was. What did labels matter when he wasn't even sure which of them he was jealous of?

In the end, maybe it didn't matter who he was jealous of. They were both out of his reach.

***

Da Ye had liked Qi Luo for a long time. He might even go so far as to say that he loved her. So he wasn't oblivious to the way she acted when Ling was around. He saw far more than he might have liked.

Likewise, Ling was one of his closest friends, and because of that he saw the wounded look in Ling's eyes, even when he was sure that no one else did. It was like a stain on his happiness, slowly spreading every time he saw Ling making another bad choice or Qi Luo looking sad in an unguarded moment when she didn't know he was watching.

It was a problem that couldn't go on, Da Ye knew, and although he'd never been brave about things like this, with two people he cared about on the line, it seemed that now was the time to start. So he called Ling, and he called Qi Luo, and he told them each to meet him, not letting them know that the other was going to be there.

It was easier than he thought, pushing them toward each other, and he didn't feel jealous like he'd thought he would. Instead he felt relief as something in Ling relaxed, as something in Qi Luo brightened. For his own part, he felt a little sad. Qi Luo would leave him behind now, and Ling would be too absorbed in her to spend time with him. He would be alone. Still, he turned away, ready to give them what they needed.

Until Ling's voice rang out behind him. Until Qi Luo stretched out her hand, and he took it, unable to resist her pull. And then Ling was taking his other hand, and Qi Luo and Ling were holding hands too and the three of them were linked. He laughed a little, nervously, wondering if he was misunderstanding something.

But Qi Luo laughed too, and there was a mischievous note that he'd never heard from her before as she pushed him and Ling together. And Ling's usual sharpness was absent as he pulled Da Ye closer too, close enough that they were completely in each other's space. Maybe it shouldn't have surprised him. Ling had always been more open in that way than anyone else Da Ye knew. Still, he froze a little as Ling's lips covered his own, and in that moment of hesitation, he felt himself swept away. He felt a little bit of sympathy for all those girls who had been unable to give up after getting a taste of this. More, he felt right and whole for the first time in a long time.

When the kiss ended, he found himself reaching for Qi Luo, pulling her closer and pulling Ling closer too, until the three of them were pressed together as tightly as he could manage. He could feel them breathing against him, could almost feel his own heartbeat echoing through them. This was it. This was what he'd been wanting.

This was what he hoped he could have. "Am I dreaming?" he asked breathlessly.

"If you are, then we're all dreaming the same dream," Qi Luo murmured.

"Let's never wake up," Ling whispered.


End file.
